Life after 50 years in opera and still counting......

May 22, 2018

Another week gone! And the highlight was 48 hours in glorious Suffolk, in Orford with all its associations with the world of Benjamin Britten. Of course two days is never long enough but I will be back in June for another four days during the Aldeburgh Festival and hope to get to the Snape Proms in August. So many are the pleasures of musical life in an English summer. Next up is Garsington, and then Glyndebourne.

And if you get to Aldeburgh and need a simple, and simply delicious, lunch try out the Lighthouse.

Before leaving for Suffolk I was at the new George Benjamin piece at the Royal Opera House - Lessons in Love and Violence.It is a co-production with Dutch National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Lyon, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, and Teatro Real, Madrid so there should be plenty of opportunity to catch up with it. I was in an uncomfortable seat with restricted view in the upper reaches of the house. My mistake! I will try to get to it again - but only as long as the remarkable Barbara Hannigan is in the cast. Another exceptional outing from her.......

I am in Berlin tomorrow for the Neue Stimmen winners concert. This is always a spring highlight, meeting up again with the Bertelsmann family and remembering the fun we had last October. All three mezzo prize winners will be there.

May 16, 2018

This gives a little flavour of the irresistible attraction of Provence in the Spring - poppies in the foreground and Les Alpilles in the distance. I spent last week in this glorious place, near the village of Eygalières, recharging my batteries for the rigours of the operatic weeks to come! Otherwise not a lot to report other that food and sunshine - and a little wine though this is not a major wine producing area though they have a few delicious bottles for local consumption!

May 05, 2018

I am glad to be having quite a quiet time in April and May. But by June it will be all go again prefaced by Garsington Opera's final preparations for what looks to be an exciting season full of delicious ingredients. I will then be in Montreal in the first week of June for the final stages of their competition, and on my return the English summer opera season will be in full flow.

Tower Bridge 6:15 pm Tuesday May 1

Meanwhile I was at The Bridge on Tuesday evening for the first preview of a new play by Barney Norris - Nightfall. The first preview of a brand new play screams "work in progress". It opens on Tuesday next by which time much may have changed. I only got to care about any of these characters in the last 30 minutes. But I don't think it will ever be epic stuff somehow. But who knows? - it will probably win an Olivier, transfer to Broadway and win a Tony! I would back Nick Hytner's judgement way before my own!! We shall see!

Earlier on Tuesday I made my way to the far east of London, to Bromley-by-Bow - a short distance from West Ham - a part of London I do not know at all. It is the location of the splendid 3 Mills Studios which are the rehearsal home for Garsington this year. Once you get there it is a superb facility. I was there for an audition of an important young singers the excellent studio where Capricciois now being rehearsed. And how nice it was to bump into Miah Persson who sings the Countess. She was with us as Héro in Béatrice et Bénédict with the European Union Opera in Baden-Baden and Paris way back in 1998.

April 30, 2018

There was a real treat the remodelled Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday evening - two phenomenal oldies, two hugely gifted youngsters and a string quartet that looked terribly young to me but which was formed 16 years ago - the Navarra.

The oldies were James Galway (78) and the 94(!) year old Menahem Pressler. The youngsters were the hugely gifted clarinettist and composer Mark Simpson and the star hostess of the evening Danielle de Niese whose interaction with this marvellous company produced relaxed music making of the highest order, clearly enjoyed hugely by all on the stage as well as by the cheering public.

Whilst the core of the programme was Schubert we had two French rarities, two Ronsard poems for soprano and flute by Albert Roussel, and the Chanson perpétuelle by Chausson in his version with piano quintet replacing the orchestra.

This kind of mixed programme of chamber music with an assortment of friends coming together in this way is really rare these days, so all credit to the Southbank Centre for featuring it in their International Chamber Music Series. And thanks to this splendid array of distinguished artists for delivering such a beautifully designed and magically performed programme.

Meanwhile the QEH! The hall appears to have improved and really excellent acoustics - and it is warm and welcoming and comfortable. The foyer has been opened up and has been provided with a performance space (they call it a "gigs space"!) of its own. Well there was a "gig" at high volume as the audience arrived and when the performers departed they were replaced by a some grotesquely over amplified "background music". They might want to rethink that - as well as the lighting which on Friday evening was deeply gloomy. Its only been open for a couple of weeks - teething problems no doubt. Anyway its great to have the QEH back in action - a place of so many memories over the last 50 years.

April 25, 2018

It was a special treat to go to Oxford yesterday afternoon, a great and beautiful city where I have spent many happy times over the years, especially during the early Glyndebourne tours from 1968 onwards. The New Theatre was one of our prime destinations, and by far the easiest to get to for Londoners. We had a very strong following there with an excellent financial support network to supplement the funds we received from the Arts Council and from ticket sales. And a week in this bustling university city was always inspiring for the company.

My trip yesterday was not to the New Theatre, or indeed for opera or music, but to see the Cheek by Jowl production of Shakespeare's Pericles, in French thus Périclès, Prince de Tyr. An extraordinary group of seven french actors (of which three are seen above) create what develops into a deeply moving emotional world, enacted in a hospital world - it works! You can see it at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday - and off you go to Perpignan at the beginning of May if you miss it in Oxford. An excellent excuse for a trip to the Pyrenees, and maybe a happy spill over into Spain. Go for it!

Another pleasure was to pop into Trinity College for a little aperitif with Hilary Boulding, nearing the end of her first year as President of the College where distinguished former presidents have included Arthur Norrington, Anthony Quinton and my old friend John Burgh. How good it is to have a musician as head of Trinity! Her distinguished career at the BBC, the Arts Council, and the Royal Welsh College of Music prepared her to be a very special leader for a great Oxford College. How sensible and lucky they are to have caught her!

On Monday I attended part of day 1 of the International Artist Managers Association conference at King's Place - a grand meeting bringing together colleagues and friends (and competitors!) from around the world. I did the first session in the morning, then had lunch with Wexford's David Agler. I then returned in the evening for the "Icebreaker" happy hour sponsored by Intermusica. All in all a happy day's work!

After a warm last week we are back to normal so called Spring weather but I have resisted putting the heating back on!

April 18, 2018

Eva-Maria Westbroek and John Tomlinson - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk ROH April 2018

I was at the second performance last night of the sold out revival of Richard Jones' overwhelming production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Royal Opera House. I first saw the piece at Covent Garden in December 1963 in the version revised by Shostakovich in 1962 at Stalin's behest, and under the title Katerina Ismailova. We now only ever get to see the original 1934 version that offended Stalin so much!!

In the 1960s the Royal Opera had a large resident company including such distinguished singers as Marie Collier who sang the title role, Charles Craig (Sergei), Otakar Kraus (Boris), as well as Edgar Evans, John Lanigan, Michael Langdon, Daniel McCoshan, Janet Coster, Eric Garrett etc - all names long forgotten though not to opera goers of my generation!

The opera world has changed and resident companies are rarer these days. But the superb cast put together by the Royal Opera for the current revival so far exceeds what was possible in those days - so we are thankful for that. Indeed the meticulous attention to detail by the Royal Opera resulted in one of the most astonishing performances of anything I have heard in recent years - a huge feather in the cap of our premier opera house.

Eva-Maria Westbroek is a miracle - all the more so I guess, since she sang the title role here 12 years ago and is as robust and fresh vocally now as she was apparently then (I did not see it - I was in Chicago!). John Tomlinson is I suppose defined as a veteran - but bring them on! Here was a knock out performance yet again from this remarkable man. And the Sergei was Brandon Jovanovich from Billings, Montana - making his Royal Opera debut in a role he had sung first in Zurich five years ago and subsequently in Vienna and at the Met. Quite wonderful and seriously scary!

The huge perfectly chosen cast, the superb Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra (not to mention the splendid brass stage band), were under the passionate command of Tony Pappano - Covent Garden remains in great shape! Apparently Richard Jones was unavailable to direct the revival - but Elaine Kidd did an impeccable job - one would never have known!

So that was a very great night in the theatre. And it followed my Monday night attendance at something hardly less remarkable - The Inheritance at the Young Vic - the Tony Kushner like epic from a Puerto Rican Floridian Matthew Lopez. It comes in two parts. I hope to get to Part 2 - it is remarkable, and obligatory for all who believe in the power of theatre to make us understand.......assuming that we want to.

April 13, 2018

It was a real delight to go to St George's, Hanover Square yesterday evening to hear a concert performance of Teseo, a rarity indeed although we did it hugely successfully in Chicago back in 2012! St George's was Handel's parish church, barely 350 yards from his home on Brook Street. This was part of the London Handel Festival and I urge you to try to get there for the second and last performance tomorrow evening.

The combined forces of La nuova musica and the finest of the Royal Academy Opera's young singers, under the inspiring leadership of David Bates, provided an evening of thrilling music making by splendid young singers and David Bates's superb band. Thank you by the way to the principal oboe, Leo Duarte who played his hugely difficult star pieces flawlessly. What a pleasure to see how he inhabited this music!

The Royal Academy of Music's opera program seems to have an inexhaustible supply of talent. They have a busy life indeed having been working on the opening production of the RAM's new theatre in recent weeks. However fatigue seems to be a state foreign to them, for they came up as fresh as you could hope in this long and taxing evening.

Patrick Terry took the title role on and dispatched it with thrilling sound and scarcely a moment of uncertainty. He is a valuable new counter-tenor who has been impressing in RAO shows these last two years. Another counter-tenor Alexander Simpson sang Arcano's especially beautiful and emotional music with ravishing beauty of voice and deep commitment, and the other male character, Egeo, was taken by an impressive mezzo Frances Gregory, another refugee from the production of Flight just four weeks ago.

Leila Zanette was a scary barn storming Medea - wonderful! Meinir Wyn Roberts goes from strength to strength and was a lovely Agilea, and the French soprano Emilie Cavallo was a delightful Clizia to complete the quartet of lovers. The RAM faculty must have been hugely proud of their students - hardly students at all as they are all absolutely ready to take on the challenges of the profession.

I can not resist remembering Teseo in Chicago......we had a mezzo in the title role, and a counter-tenor Egeo. How nice to be able to mix it up! And below is a visual reminder of that lovely production.

April 12, 2018

It was a great pleasure last weekend to host one of my old colleagues from Chicago Opera Theater over to attend the International Opera Awards on Monday evening at the London Coliseum. Linden Christ is the last remaining member of the team I built up over my 13 years in Chicago. She joined the company in 2006 in the department responsible for our Education programmes, and was an exceptionally energetic and positive force contributing hugely to the success of the year round activities that draw young people into participation in all aspects of opera production, and the enjoyment of the art form. Now twelve years later she is in charge and the company received a nomination at these prestigious awards - that was a remarkable achievement for which I fancy she is wholly responsible.

It was her first time in England and she brought sunny weather with her to add to her sunny disposition! I was able to take her around a bit, notably to the Tate both Britain and Modern, and she took herself off independently on expeditions including the Tower of London and evensong at St Paul's Cathedral. Fearless!! And her cousin living in London took her to the Ivy for dinner followed by The Mousetrap - oh such a poignant thought for me as I saw that play as a child 65 years ago with the original cast including Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim! It is still running - unbelievable.

In the event the award went to Holland Park Opera beating out COT and other nominated companies Florida Grand Opera, Garsington, the Polish National Opera, and La Monnaie, Brussels. But good for COT to be in such company.

The rest of the International Opera Awards event was an enjoyable social evening with so many old colleagues - ending up with a noisy crowd in the Coliseum's Sky Bar! There was a nice highlight with Wallis Giunta winning the young singer award against some formidable competition - including her fellow Canadian Gordon Bintner. I was delighted for Wallis - one of my finalist picks for Neue Stimmen a few years ago. She was eliminated in the first round on that occasion - it always good to remember these stories! And the real joy was the Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Teresa Berganza, (right) as gracious and delightful now as she was when I first saw and heard her in Le nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne in 1958.

Last Friday I was at an impressive ENO cover run through of The Marriage of Figaro, a wonderful display of some of the finest young talent emerging and being developed by ENO both inside and outside its Harewood programme. Current Harewood Artists Božidar Smiljanić and Matthew Durkan took on Figaro and the Count most impressively and the delightful Barbarina from the first cast, Alison Rose, was an utterly charming confident Susanna - she is going to be really good! Another great find for ENO is Nardus Williams who covered the Countess - a major voice for the future. So that was an altogether encouraging afternoon.

On Tuesday I made a return visit to see The Moderate Soprano, revived in the West End following its premiere at the Hampstead Theatre where I saw it in October 2015. It was a significant critical success then with outstanding performances from Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll. It is now at the Duke of York's with some new cast members, in a somewhat reworked version, and above all in a typical small West End theatre - a far cry from the much more involving environment of the Hampstead Theatre. I saw a preview, a work in progress no doubt.

This evening I am looking forward to Handel's Teseo, part of the London Handel Festival. More on that tomorrow!

April 05, 2018

The highlight of Easter Day was Nicholas Hytner's epic production of Julius Caesarat his new and remarkable Bridge Theatre, the second production of its inaugural season. I went with my younger daughter to the stalls area where the seats had been removed - we were indeed the "groundlings" in the Pit, right in there with all the action. But we behaved with 21st century decorum.........this is really a must see production but be warned - do not take your places until the last minute if you have any sensitivity in your eardrums. There is sustained head-splittingly loud "music" to what purpose I was not entirely clear. It is claimed that it did not exceed 90 decibels whereas the legal maximum is said by the Bridge Theatre staff to be140. I don't believe a word of any of this.........it was intolerable.

But all was forgiven - the play is the thing, with in this case glorious performances from David Calder, David Morrissey, Michelle Fairley, and Ben Wishaw - standouts from a marvellously assembled company. Nicholas Hytner's departure from the leadership of the National Theatre is totally compensated for with the creation of the Bridge with his partner at the NT Nick Starr. The riches we have in London.......

Don't miss it - its only on until April 15 so hurry, hurry.....!

Easter Day provided the additional opportunity to take in the 11:15 m service at the Temple Church with Schubert's Mass in G as its central musical framework. The Temple Church choir seems to be in good form, living up to its famous history. And we eventually got home after the play by river bus from London Bridge pier to the new pier at Battersea - this will soon become my preferred mode of transport! Indeed on Easter Monday we took to the water again to see the Modigliani and Picasso shows at Tate Modern. You have missed Modigliani now but Picasso 1932 is a great show running until early September. I intend to go back a couple more times at weekend "members hours" if I can get there by 8 am!

This evening I am off to the Wigmore Hall - Emmanelle Haïm and her Concerts d'Astrée are in town. A lovely Handel programme. It will be so good to see her - it was for Handel's Agrippina that I brought her to Chicago in 2003 - how the years pass.....

March 30, 2018

The varied ENO season is ending up with a splendid revival of Fiona Shaw's production of Le nozze di Figaro. There are many pleasures to be found, above all in the super performances by two rising stars of ENO's Harewood Artists programme, Rhian Lois (Susanna) and Katie Coventry's lithe and lively Cherubino, utterly convincing in all respects and quite beautifully sung. Rhian Lois tackles Susanna with total confidence - and a monster long role it is of course. But she sails through it without a care in the world.

And Ashley Riches has made the transition from hugely promising to totally accomplished and authoritative - a really splendidly sung assumption of the part for the first time at the Coliseum. It is so satisfying to see how this company is building after that other recent great company effort A Midsummer Night's Dream earlier in the month.

The one visiting "guest" was the excellent Dutch bass-baritone Thomas Oliemans in the title role, with perfect English diction by the way - a model! Lucy Crowe and Janis Kelly brought experience and distinction to the Countess and Marcellina, and an array of the best of British filled the comprimario roles. We will see more of them all, but I especially look forward to more from the versatile and fruity bass of Keel Watson (Bartolo) - a fine acquisition for the company.

A full house loved it, as did I! And how good to see Martyn Brabbins, the company's eminent music director, in the pit for Mozart.

March 25, 2018

Tuesday was my annual trip to Birmingham for Graham Vick and his Birmingham Opera Company's latest inventive act - Giorgio Batistelli's new piece Wake. There is a full description on the Artsdesk site. I can't do as well, let alone better. We must all tip our hats to Graham Vick for his bold vision and his courage in following through unstintingly and uncompromisingly. More please - there will be another thrilling one next year, as yet unannounced but you can be sure that you will want to be there.

I was there on the train from Euston with a little party of long standing colleagues and friends, and we returned on the excellent Virgin train, first class at a knock down price with advance booking and a senior card. Free food and booze! I was home by 1 am. TFL (Transport for London) is as good as it gets with excellent late night tube and bus.

And from Thursday to yesterday late evening I was at Glyndebourne for the first Glyndebourne Opera "Cup" - an excellent new competition with the trophy not being a cup at all, but a colourful G similar to the Glyndebourne logo. This year it was devoted to Mozart - that is good since Mozart is Glyndebourne's founding and resident composer, and it makes up for the fact that there is not a single Mozart opera being performed at the Festival this year - I think that may be just the second, not the first time, that that has happened. Let it not happen again!

Mozart is the acid test of a singer, and I pretty well always ask for the Mozart from the list of the singer has not sung one first. Mozart demands all the attributes, vocal quality, technique, musicianship, sensitivity to text, and above all the ability to "inhabit" the character and the situation........and to take the listener out of time to to join him or her in that world as well. It is a rare ability and a magical moment when it happens, as I personally felt it did for me on just a couple of occasions last evening.

Of course the voice is the thing but not, as I say, the only thing. That is the easy part. The collective distilled wisdom of the excellent jury filtered 10 finalists from the 20 semi-finalists who paraded on Thursday. I guess they had an easy job choosing the top seven. The last three places will probably have come from a pool of half a dozen of the rest where the marginal priorities and preferences of individual jury members kicked in.

This was an exceptionally well qualified jury - no singers just employers of singers. That is as it should be. Do I hear some singers cry out "NO"?!!!! Well we need not go into that. Glyndebourne had chosen jurors who are responsible for hiring singers from opera houses in Zurich, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Madrid, Venice, Philadelphia, and Glyndebourne itself. These are all people with a fine track record who can collectively be expected to get it "right" - whatever that is. It is clear that they chose prize winners who will be hired, and each of whom must be destined for good things as will most of the other finalists, including without doubt the youngest of the lot, the 21 year old Emily Pogorelc who predictably lifted the prize for "The most promising talent". £5,000 - a nice evening's work!

At the end of the finals the audience was asked to vote for their favourite and an exceptional young Kosovan soprano Elbenita Kajtazi scooped that, and then the third prize so she went off with £12,500. An excellent evening's work for her too. The second prize went to a Jette Parker soprano, a fearless and hugely impressive soprano Jacquelyn Stucker, an American who graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston and is already on her way to the big time. £10,000 for her - thank you very much!

And the winner was an American again, a mezzo Samantha Hankey, just 26 but a Met Grand Final winner last year and already making her mark at the Met as well as in Oslo and Geneva. She also had the bonus of the Media Prize, chosen by a panel of the UK's leading critics, adding £5,000 to her winnings to bring them to a nice round £20,000. It has been a good year for mezzos with the top three prizes for women at Neue Stimmen going to mezzo-sopranos.

Two of these prize winners melted my heart as described above! The jury must have had a tough time sorting all these competing elements - it will have been a close run thing as it usually is. Bravo anyway to all concerned - this competition has the potential to swiftly become one of the top handful in the world that the best will want to compete in. It was superbly organised by the Glyndebourne team, and the television coverage was comprehensive and splendidly executed by Sky Arts. Danielle de Niese is as gifted and charismatic a presenter as she is a singer - and her co-presenter out in the auditorium was the charming and witty comedian Chris Addison.

March 20, 2018

My quick trip to Lisbon for Idomeneo on Sunday was exhausting but worth it! An early flight from Heathrow meant a 5:30 am departure from home. Fortunately I took the excellent TAP flight instead of the unreliable rude and uncomfortable BA one - it was probably cancelled anyway since there was the odd snowflake around! But the Portuguese airline brought me to Lisbon slightly early and the Lisbon Metro is a quick and cheap ride into town. I was in a different little hotel, a new discovery Chiado 44 - excellent value and a very short walk to the lovely São Carlos Theatre.

Then four main singers in the 4 pm performance of Idomeneo were a perfectly matched quartet - the lovely Portuguese soprano Anna Quintans who is known to Glyndebourne audiences from last summer's Hipermestra was Ilia, Electra was Sophie Gordeladze, a splendid Georgian soprano who is that rare creature a soprano who can deal successfully with the disparate and competing requirements of this difficult role. She is a fine theatre animal too. Caitlin Hulcup, Garsington's Idamante in 2016, was a handsome presence and a perfect vocal foil for her colleagues - Idamante features in a duet, a trio, and a quartet. Such glorious stuff! And last but far from least our dear friend Richard Croft - did I ever hear Fuor del mar sung so stunningly? I think not. He remains the Idomeneo du jour!

Christian Curnyn secured really stylish playing from the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, the opera company's home orchestra, and the São Carlos chorus were major stars also in this chorus heavy piece. So it was an afternoon of considerable musical pleasures - followed by a delightful dinner with Christian and the cast before an early night. I was whisked back to the airport yesterday morning at 5:15 - another even earlier flight to get me to a Garsington meeting at the Royal Academy at 10:30. London City Airport is great - I got from there to Marylebone Road in 35 minutes.

I am off to Birmingham this afternoon for my annual trip to Graham Vick's extraordinary BOCO. The production this year is Wake. But the Virgin train and my travelling companions are the same as usual. More in due course if we survive the fun!

March 16, 2018

This evening the English National Opera opens Daniel Kramer's production of La traviata that is co-produced with the Basel Opera and which opened in Switzerland earlier in the season. It completed a sold out run of performances there just a few weeks ago and has been the success of their season evidently. London will now see it for a long run of performances and it is likely to be no less popular here.

I am particularly delighted to see the Irish soprano Claudia Boyle in the title role, and our wonderful South African tenor Lukanyo Moyake who was a Neue Stimmen prize winner in 2015. They are both destined for great things. And speaking of great things - as Germont Père Alan Opie celebrates his 50th year with the English National Opera, and company itself celebrates 50 years at the Coliseum.

Alas I can not be at the whole performance this evening as I have a family commitment - a school concert at St John's Smith Square, including Carmina Burana. But I hope to get to the Coliseum for the last act and to hear the resounding cheers at the end. And to go to the party!! However I have a taste of what is to come having been at the dress rehearsal on Wednesday and some earlier rehearsals as well.

Meanwhile yesterday I was at a long morning of auditions for Garsington Opera. We had a great line up of the best of the new - highly productive day! And now I am off to the National Opera Studio for their showcase for the wider profession. Other nice things coming up this weekend including a trip to Lisbon!

March 11, 2018

I was at the opening of the Royal Opera's production of From the House of the Dead, Janáček's last opera, on Wednesday evening and was disturbed by my reaction to it. So thought I ought to go back and see it again last night!

Pascal Charbonneau as Aljeja and Ladislav Elgr as Skuratov in From The House of The Dead

I have always found this piece totally absorbing, never failing to capture me through the intensity of Janáček at his most burning, and the bleakness of the subject (there isn't really a narrative/plot in the conventional sense.) The three great productions of recent decades have been those of David Pountney, Patrice Chereau, and Peter Mussbach - Brussels 1991. Here we had the Polish director Krzysztof Warlikowski, known for his "subversive" productions of Greek tragedies apparently. My only previous experience of his work was a rather irritating "production" of Handel's Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno in Aix in 2016. He is clearly a man of formidable intelligence, personality, persuasiveness, and craftsmanship. However I found the emotional deficit, my inability to engage with the desperate condition of these humans in Warlikowski's sanitized depiction of their plight, upsetting in completely the wrong way! So I thought I would go back for another look from a different angle, in the orchestra stalls left rather than stalls circle extreme right!

Well it didn't really help very much but I was able to admire once again the superb cast of seven tenors (I think) with exceptional performances by Štefan Margita, Ladislav Elgr, Nicky Spence, Peter Hoare, John Graham Hall, Pascal Charbonneau and, last but not least, the remarkable Graham Clark still going very strong indeed all those years after his Wexford debut in a tiny part in Prokofiev's The Gambler in 1973. And notable amongst the lower voices were Johan Reuter's Šiśkov and Willard White (Gorjančikov). Here was as strong a cast cast as one could imagine, welded together by Mark Wiggleworth whose Jánaček credentials have already been sealed in London with Jenůfa during his only too brief spell at ENO. The orchestra and chorus are of course two of the great glories of our Royal Opera and here they were displayed at their very best.

March 07, 2018

I returned to see another production of Britten's magical A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday evening, but to the Royal College of Music where a very different take on the piece, including completely uncalled for domestic violence, came from Liam Steel and Michael Pavelka. I must say I found it overall curiously misogynistic and generally unappealing in spite of the best efforts of some gifted young singers.

Altogether a pity as there was really distinguished work from Timothy Morgan, a valuable new counter-tenor talent as Oberon, and a particularly fetching Hermia from Lauren Morris - but taller than Helena which rather missed a point or two! And there were really excellent fairies from that amazing stable of youthful talent, Trinity Croydon. They have been providing boys for the best companies in the country half a century. What a splendid start in life for these young people!

And on Monday morning I had the happy opportunity to pop into the ENO understudy showing where there was a remarkable line up of people each of whom could have gone on in an emergency without blinking. It is always invidious to mention names....but I will pick just three for fun - Colin Judson (Flute), Jonathan Lemalu (Bottom), and Angharad Lyddon (Hermia) - each special in their own eccentric ways! But the truth is that it was an amazing line up showing the depth of ENO's resources.

James Glossop

Carly Owen (Susanna) and Polly Leech (Marfa) in a scene from Khovanschina

And then last evening I was at the Rudolf Steiner Hall for the National Opera Studio's Russian event. This was notable for much - and above all another opportunity to see the remarkable Polly Leech whose ability to inhabit everything she does, and take us prisoner, is very special. I may be wrong but I feel sure that there are great things ahead.

This evening I am at the Royal Opera House for From the House of the Dead......

March 05, 2018

Yes, there we were loading up the trucks from Edwards of Hinkley to take us up to Newcastle for the first tour which opened in Newcastle with Don Giovannion March 5 1968. We took FOUR productions on tour in those days - Die Zauberflöte, L'elisir d'amore, and L'Ormindo were the other three. How did we do it? I really can't remember - I was the 26 year old founding administrator for Glyndebourne Touring Opera as it was originally named. It all seemed so straight forward......! It was the vision and passion of George Christie of course who got this thing off the ground. We just got on with the job, and its gratifying to see that 50 years later it is still going strong, though I doubt that there will ever be four operas on tour again!

So Happy Birthday Glyndebourne Touring Opera - or whatever it is now called. For us it will always be GTO!

March 04, 2018

The ENO revival of Robert Carsen's Midsummer Night's Dream production turned out to be a great hit at the Coliseum on Thursday. The magical piece had its way with us as usual - and that was thanks to the excellent conductor Alexander Soddy (a name to watch there is no doubt) and some really delightful performances from the new cast. Soraya Mafi goes from strength to strength, (watch out for her Nanetta at Garsington this coming summer) and Eleanor Dennis is a hilarious maypole of a Helena, marvellously sung and acted. Indeed the cast is a model team of ENO excellence. The whole evening is a pleasure and a feather in ENO's cap.

Yesterday evening's recital by that one off somewhat eccentric Jeremy Denk at the Milton Court Concert Hall in the Barbican promised to be a great pleasure, I having heard him in Chicago back in 2011. And so it turned out to be, though not as expected as the programme had been changed without warning. My initial irritation was however calmed down by marvellous performances of Beethoven's Op 109 and Schubert's last sonata D 960. So all was forgiven, but I nevertheless missed the promised Beethoven/Liszt An die ferne Geliebte and Schumann's Op 17Fantasie.

I have a busy week coming up - the Royal College of Music's Midsummer Night's Dream tomorrow evening and the National Opera Studios Russian showcase on Tuesday......I am glad to say that the snow and extreme cold are gone. Maybe spring is really round the corner after this brief visit from "The Beast from the East".

February 28, 2018

My blog has been interrupted by a technical glitch preventing me from posting it. And my indolence used this as an excuse for not writing it. It now appears to be working again anyway.....

Actually I have had a pretty idle time since I returned from my excellent nine days in Turkey. But their have been two non domestic/social/family highlights - a recital last week by the ever youthful Joan Rodgers at the V and A, the last recital in the National Opera Studio's lunchtime series there, and the dress rehearsal yesterday morning of the also ever youthful Robert Carsen's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Coliseum yesterday morning.

For me, any recital with Schumann taking up the lion's share of the programme is likely to give me intense pleasure, as the frisson induced by the heart rending beauty of Schumann's melodic genius takes me to a form of "ground zero". And we had a double dose of that with the Liszt transcription of Widmungsplendidly played by Simon Phillippo, preceding Joan Rodgers singing it as the opening song of her first group. And so we proceeded with more Schumann interspersed with readings by David Sulkin, the NOS's Director of Artistic Development, of The Last Rose of Summer and Tennyson's Maud. And we finished with a group of six Hugo Wolf. This was as civilised and satisfying an hour as anyone could conceive!

I was at the first performance in Aix-en-Provence of Robert Carsen's Dream production back in 1991, as I had been of that other ageless production of this magical piece, Peter Hall's at Glyndebourne ten years before. They both have life in them yet as was recently proved at Glyndebourne, and yesterday morning at the Coliseum. I will say no more about it - it opens tomorrow and promises to be another feather in the cap of ENO's winter season. It makes a huge difference to have the original director present for these productions - so it was a professional as well as a personal treat to see Robert, and his designer Michael Levine, at the rehearsal yesterday. They are old friends and colleagues going back four decades......so many happy memories.

I have been hibernating in the extreme relative cold of London these last days. Of course, relative to my old home towns of Toronto and Chicago, this is nothing!

February 16, 2018

And so we have got to the end of this wonderful competition in Izmir with the finals in the University division on Wednesday and the Young Professionals (up to the age of 33) last night. And that was really night - we got back to the hotel at 1 am!

On Wednesday the three winners were the splendid natural performer soprano Seray Pinar in her third year of undergraduate study who won with impressive performances of Leila in Bizet's Pêcheurs des Perles and an aria from Donizetti's Betly. She was the runaway winner but the baritone Alper Ünlütürk was not so far behind with Mozart's Figaro Act 4 aria and a robust and ear catching Turkish song. And third was a seductive counter tenor who is also a serving soldier in the Turkish army. That by itself is a winning combination! He gave us Scherza infida from Ariodante and Reynaldo Hahn's ravishing Si mes vers avaient des ailes. That was a lovely choice and he did it justice.

I am greatly impressed by the level generally this year, a good step up from 2016 and a most encouraging sign that young Turkish singers are making a strong impression. This could be a fertile hunting ground for opera studios looking for exceptional talent to develop.

Yesterday morning we went on an expedition to the old town and naturally took in the bazaar where fruit and nuts and spices are available for silly prices (low) - so we all went shopping!

However the meat of the day was the gala final yesterday evening in the fine concert hall. You should be able to see it on this recording of the live stream. I hope that the link works - we shall see!

Our outstanding winner by a significant margin was the 24 year old soprano from Izmir, Ceren Gamze Düskün - a singer to watch, and you can do so in that live stream at approximately 36 minutes in Mimi Act 3 aria, and 1 hour 7 minutes in for Lady Macbeth. But if you have time do try to listen to the whole evening, best on a decent sized computer screen or TV.

Second place went to a baritone of great confidence and maturity Mehmet Ali Tutar, and third to a tenor Berk Dalkiliç who greatly impressed both as Cavaradossi and Lensky. That is a voice - a rare young tenor indeed.

It was a strong field and the non winners might easily have won in earlier years. Notable for me was the charming young soprano from Istanbul, just 25, Ekin Su Paker. She is still sorting out her repertoire, but at her best, in a well chosen piece, she can be outstanding. See if you can identify her in the live stream!

All in all this has been an extremely rewarding week, some marvellous singing, remarkable hospitality from the team led by the veritable "queen" of Izmir Aytül Büyüksaraç. She is the moving and ruling spirit of this competition, a superb hostess and a force of nature!! We all love her.

Our juror Rosemary Joshua left this morning but Ed Berkeley and I have a leisurely tourist day before leaving tomorrow, me to London and Ed home to New York. They have been great colleagues and we have had a lot of fun, as well as stimulating and thoughtful debate. I will miss their company.

February 14, 2018

We jury members had a magical day at Pergamon yesterday, in glorious sunshine. The kindness and generosity of the organisers of the Izmir competition know no bounds. And as if by magic the rain and cloud of the previous four days gave way to sunshine. It was paradise.

The temple of Trajan at Pergamon - Tuesday 13 February 2018

Our perfect day was rounded off with more superb Izmir hospitality - a most delicious dinner at the Adabeyi Restaurant on Eiffel's Konak Pier - an obligatory destination for any of you visiting this splendid city of Izmir. And so our happy little group walked back to our hotel along the waterfront at around 10 pm.

This evening we have the finals of the University section - lots of nervous young people no doubt. Oh dear!

February 13, 2018

It is a huge pleasure to be back in Izmir for the Young Singers competition which is getting an increasing profile with an outstanding entry from all over Turkey. I was here two years ago when I had that great experience of Izmir hospitality. This year we have in addition a stronger field and the last four days has been an exhausting and exhaustive examination culmination with a long day of semi-finals yesterday.

We have two sections - those still in university or conservatory, and a larger group of young professionals already in the "market place" - including some who are members of the excellent company here in Izmir. We have reduced these to five for the finals of the University category tomorrow evening, and six for the professionals who have a gala final with orchestra on Thursday.

Meanwhile we the jury are going on an expedition to Pergamon today. I am delighted to be in the company of Ed Berkeley and Rosemary Joshua, great colleagues who add so much wisdom and experience to the process.

February 06, 2018

I arrived in Lisbon on Sunday afternoon and made my way to the Cultural Centre in Bélem, a fifteen minute trip from Lisbon's city centre. The large concert hall there is home to one production a year from the São Carlos Opera, always a semi staged concert performance given that this is a concert hall rather than an opera house! However, Nicola Raab did a remarkable job in persuading us that this was not the case with a brave and ingenious production whose powerful effect, aided by the superb orchestra playing under Leo Hussain and the shattering score of Richard Strauss, brought the audience to its feet.

In the title role was the unique stage animal Nadja Michael. Commitment of that kind comes rarely enough. Alison Oakes as Chrysothemis, Lioba Braun as Clytemnestra, and James Rutherford's Orestes yielded little to her; and it was good to see and hear the excellent Portuguese tenor Marco Alves dos Santos making his mark as Aegisthus.

São Carlos Opera 3:30 pm Monday February 5 2018

It was two delightful days of sunshine in Lisbon replacing the cold of London. However I am back to face that this evening! This will be only for a day before I fly to Izmir on Thursday - fun coming up!

February 03, 2018

Philip Glass divides us all perhaps but there is no denying the mesmerising effect on the listener of Satyagraha, nor the impact pf Phlim McDermott's stunning production, revived this week at the London Coliseum for a third outing. And it appears to be sold out which is an excellent state of affairs. We sold out Akhnaten in Chicago all those years ago - its always good to have money in the bank as I know only too well!

Toby Spence is new to the leading role of Ghandi, and he is a more than worthy successor to the remarkable Alan Oke who was there last time. His acute intelligence and gorgeously burnished sound provide the evening with a huge additional pleasure, and he is surrounded by a first rate cast and the exceptional ENO Chorus. If you can get a ticket, go to it - but be prepared to get into the "zone"! And prepare yourself well with the excellent notes available on the ENO website. Perversely, you may think, there are no surtitles for this, one of the rare examples of an ENO production not in English!

Photo: Tristram Kenton/ENO

Thursday was a big day because in addition to Satyagraha I was at the moving performance by Matthew Rose and Tom Poster of Winterreise at the V and A at lunchtime. Matthew is deeply inside this cycle after a good few years of increasingly insightful performances. So that was a totally absorbing 70 minutes which took us to another place........and to another place (of a different kind) again yesterday - that I could not manage!

I am off to Lisbon tomorrow morning quite early, for three days, then on Thursday to Izmir for nine. So good stuff coming up!

January 31, 2018

We are all reeling from the shock of Robert's sudden death yesterday, an unbearable loss of one of the kindest, most generous, most life loving and life enhancing, most twinkly humourous yet deeply serious friends and colleagues one could wish for. When we first met 45 years ago he was one of Emmie Tillett's well chosen young men all of whom went on to distinguished careers in our business. One of his early tasks was to look after the great , then octagenarian, Andrés Segovia on a tour of the UK - what a start!

After Emmie handed over the business to Wilfred Stiff he remained there for a short time before moving to join Lies Askonas in those Lilliputian offices in Air Street - his tiny frame fitted those narrow corridors perfectly! And he eventually teamed up with Martin Campbell-White as joint managing director of Askonas Holt, a brilliantly successful re-merger of two of Emmie's young men! Robert's strength as a manager of singers was unrivalled and what a roster he had!

And in all those years we worked together, particularly of course during my Glyndebourne years, those sparkling mischievous eyes ensured that there was never a cross word. Unique! So we grew old together (actually he was nine years younger than me) in the business that he adored, with the singers that he adored and who adored him, one of the finest most selfless beings in a business where such creatures are few and far between. There are aching hearts around the world - it is hard to believe............